Ridge, Mexican officials to meet on border security

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4/23/2003

Mexican President Vicente
Fox pledged cooperation with the United States in the fight against terrorism
and said April 22 that differences over the war with Iraq have not damaged
the two countries' relationship, The Associated Press reports.

In a meeting with foreign
correspondents, Fox said Interior Minister Santiago Creel would meet with
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for two days this week in Tijuana
and San Diego to review border security.

Fox said he instructed
Creel to offer "full cooperation and to express Mexico's willingness
to fight terrorism."

Meanwhile, Fox said the
first 10 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement had produced
considerable benefits for Mexico, the United States and Canada.

"But none of us
is satisfied," he added. "We want more development and more trade."

He said Mexico had benefited
from direct foreign investment, receiving more than 69 percent of the annual
investment in Latin America.

The Mexican president
has pushed the United States to allow more Mexicans to cross and work legally
north of the border, but a proposed migration accord was stalled by the
Sept. 11 attacks.